Government acknowledges additional suffering of children placed in care

NETHERLANDS, June 30 - News item | 30-06-2025 | 14:00

As Minister Struycken explains, “These young people were affected first of all by unfair claims by the Tax and Customs Administration and then by being placed in care without the causes of the problems their families were facing being sufficiently recognised. The youth care and protection system failed to prevent them being placed in care.”

Painful conclusions call for decisive action

The report shows that, in many cases, claims by the Tax and Customs Administration led to debt, poverty and stress which in turn created or exacerbated family problems. Shortcomings on the part of neighbourhood teams and youth care and protection meant that the financial causes were insufficiently identified and this resulted in care orders that might otherwise have been prevented.

In the words of Minister Palmen-Schlangen, “These young people are still burdened by the negative impact each and every day. You can rest assured that you’ve now been seen and heard and we recognise the government’s actions caused a great deal of suffering. That’s why we want to help young people with what they need most.”

Three-pronged approach: recognise, support, learn

The government acknowledges that these children have been particularly affected by its mistakes. It now wants to initiate a careful process during which it will work together with the partners and organisations involved, as well as with young people themselves, to determine how this process of recognition should be structured and implemented and apologies made. The government also wants to expand and improve the existing child support scheme.

A national support centre is going to be set up for all parents and young people who are looking for help with their mental health issues. In addition, a new scheme is going to be introduced for young people who were placed in care and who want to help with training and development. The independent Support Team, which helps aggrieved parents and children who were affected by care orders, is going to continue its work.

The government wants to learn from the mistakes made, for example by adopting an integrated family approach, strengthening legal protection in the context of youth protection and a culture change which revolves around trust in families.

Young people central to the plans

It is important to regain the trust of those families that were affected. That is why young people themselves are going to be closely involved in the process of developing the measures. They will play an active role, including in the actual implementation of those measures, for example in terms of contact with their peers or by providing information to youth welfare organisations.

Joint responsibility

The government wants to prevent families from experiencing the same kind of suffering again and it is taking the lessons from the Hamer Commission report on board. The report stresses the need to address complex problems in families in a coherent way and to make the youth sector more family orientated.

As Minister Tielen explains, “In the Youth Reform Agenda it was agreed that strong local teams should look more closely at what young people and families really need. Their situation and life experiences are key in this respect. This is an important point of departure as far as the government is concerned.”

This move is in line with the improvements in youth protection which are being made on the basis of the Future Scenario for Child and Family Protection. The government wants fewer children to be placed in care and a coherent approach to assistance.

Cooperation with chain partners

Organisations such as the Child Care and Protection Board (Raad voor de Kinderbescherming), certified institutions and the judiciary have completed their own reviews and have started introducing improvement measures.

As Minister Struycken explains, “We are adopting a joint approach. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that this suffering is never repeated and that affected children receive the support they deserve for their recovery and future.”

The government is going to inform the House of Representatives on progress with regard to all the planned measures by the end of 2025.